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Original poster

A in mock exam. E in A level

98 replies

Ceci03 · 18/08/2023 22:18

So we are querying DDs result in drama. The coursework was 60% and she got A*. In the mock exam she got an A. She got a C overall in A Level and it turns out she got an E in the exam. She was brought up to a C by her coursework.

I work in a Uni and come from a family of teachers and I have never heard of a student going from an A to an E ??? She didn't have a panic attack. She answered all the questions that has been confirmed.

Grateful for anyone going through so then g similar... I feel that her teacher needs to explain himself? Was he using a different masking scheme? The CW mark be awarded was confirmed by the external tho so hd Aug know what he is doing. Am so puzzled. I would accept she could drop a grade to a B but to drop to an E? She worked so so hard.

OP posts:
Original poster
Ceci03 · 19/08/2023 11:34

So there is just 1 exam in drama. I have the script. No missing questions . She answered everything.
Coursework was moderated and confirmed by external as A*
Doe the examiner marking the exam know/see the coursework I wonder
CW is 60% exam is 40%
On the day of the exam the teacher was there and wished her luck and said she just needed to do what she'd been doing all year and she would definitely get an A. I'd understand if the exam was a B or even a C but she's never gotten an E ever in her life .
The head emailed me and said there was no point in getting a recheck as it is a very low E and could be downgraded to a U but would be unlikely to go up to even a D.
DD is broken . I'm trying to get her to look at courses in clearing but she keeps saying she is stupid and shouldn't go to uni that she's been mistaken and she's an E student and uni is not for her. It's such a bitter blow. More so cos she was predicted A or A*. She keeps saying even if they had told
Her she was a C or D she would accept it more

OP posts:
fridaynight1 · 19/08/2023 11:46

Get this rechecked and ask for the paper back. Your daughter needs an answer. Her doubts and uncertainties wont go away until she knows why.

LadyHester · 19/08/2023 11:48

Has the head explained why it’s such a low E? Either she’s completely flunked it and just written nonsense, or she has written sensible things which don’t pick up marks, or as a PP has said, hasn’t ticked the boxes to hit the higher bands. It’s very formulaic.
I really do think that getting a better feel for what exactly went wrong will be the first step towards getting her out of this state of complete despair, and will help her to see a way forward. And keep pushing the school: unless she simply went to pieces in the exam (which does happen), they have some responsibility here.

Simplelobsterhat · 19/08/2023 11:48

I'm not sure on the issues of remarking etc but what jumps out is that she is calling herself an E student, you state E on the title of your OP and yet she doesn't have an E she has a C overall! That is her Alevel grade. What was her overall grade for the English? A C is not a bad grade at AL.

No wonder she is doubting her ability if everyone is focusing on the one bit of the course/ assessment she was worst at. She has established she is better at coursework than exams so needs to take that into account when choosing a uni course through clearing. I've missed if you said what she wanted to do at uni, but I was better at coursework and at uni and my English degree had free choice of modules after the first year so I never did another exam after year 1, I just picked the modules that were assessed by coursework!

XelaM · 19/08/2023 11:52

I think it's time to get some resilience back. It's an awful shock, but if you read posts in the A levels results day thread, this happened to many kids. She needs to pick herself up and look forward

Ellmau · 19/08/2023 12:04

Did other pupils in her class also get poorer results than expected?

Piggywaspushed · 19/08/2023 12:58

It sounds like exams aren't her thing,OP. This is no dreadful thing. Must of university, especially in more arts based courses, is assessed through coursework, which she seems to be excellent at.

LadyMayGrey · 19/08/2023 13:04

Scarydinosaurs · 18/08/2023 22:21

First step get a look at the paper to check no admin error/missing pages. That is free.

Then ask for a review of marking.

It might not be free, it depends if the school staff do the extra work voluntarily, or if someone is employed to do it

LadyMayGrey · 19/08/2023 13:06

I feel that her teacher needs to explain himself? Was he using a different masking scheme?

Her teacher didn't take the exam - she did! yes, he would have used a different mark scheme for the mock,

TiaraBoo · 19/08/2023 13:13

Can you get a copy of her paper to see what she answered vs the mark scheme? How many marks did she get in the exam?

surreygirl1987 · 19/08/2023 13:19

I feel that her teacher needs to explain himself?

Sure, blame the teacher 🙄 Did the whole class do badly?

danske · 19/08/2023 13:23

Ceci03 · 19/08/2023 11:34

So there is just 1 exam in drama. I have the script. No missing questions . She answered everything.
Coursework was moderated and confirmed by external as A*
Doe the examiner marking the exam know/see the coursework I wonder
CW is 60% exam is 40%
On the day of the exam the teacher was there and wished her luck and said she just needed to do what she'd been doing all year and she would definitely get an A. I'd understand if the exam was a B or even a C but she's never gotten an E ever in her life .
The head emailed me and said there was no point in getting a recheck as it is a very low E and could be downgraded to a U but would be unlikely to go up to even a D.
DD is broken . I'm trying to get her to look at courses in clearing but she keeps saying she is stupid and shouldn't go to uni that she's been mistaken and she's an E student and uni is not for her. It's such a bitter blow. More so cos she was predicted A or A*. She keeps saying even if they had told
Her she was a C or D she would accept it more

The fact that it’s such a low mark suggests it is worth a remark - it’s unlikely to go down anymore surely?

If you’ve seen the script, what do you make of her answers? Has she properly answered the questions? Has the teacher read the script and given his thoughts?

Newgirls · 19/08/2023 13:23

Same happened to me years ago. Got a C when an A student in all else. Papers were remarked and one of them was a clear E. my answers were thin and one was just rubbish. I hadn’t got the point of the Q at all. It happens.

Choux · 19/08/2023 13:41

Is it possible she got a little complacent with the drama and English teachers massaging her ego and consistently giving her A grades and she didn't revise as much as she should have?

So while she answered the questions there wasn't enough depth to her answers and none of the more nuanced points that differentiate the top grade students.

What did she say when she came home after sitting the exams? Did her favourite topics come up or her worst ones? Did she say 'it was alright, I had things to write' or 'I had so many points to make for most questions my hand was aching and I could barely get them all on the paper in three hours'?

Piggywaspushed · 19/08/2023 13:49

Also worth knowing that grade boundaries are hoicked considerably in subjects with NEA, to 'compensate' for excellent coursework and 'preserve the integrity of the qualification '. In other words, if they were all allowed to be as brilliant as their NEA , there'd be 'too many ' top grades. I know...

Example...two of my students got A stars for NEA and their exams were apparently Cs and Bs. I look at data and this still leaves their exam oerformance as 'above other centres'.It's all a stats game! They thus got A overall , rather than the A star suggested by NEA.

Your DD's does appear a Very Big Example of this though. It does make it hard for someone looking at papers as a teacher to make a judgement because they aren't marked to grades precisely for these reasons.

XelaM · 19/08/2023 13:51

If you have the paper then you know where she went wrong. Did she miss the point if the question? I used to mark exams at a university and some students completely missed the point of a question so I couldn't award any marks. I had to mark according to the marking guide and if there are no points made that I can give a mark for bases on the marking guide, there's not much I as an examiner can do.

niclw · 19/08/2023 14:02

Ceci03 · 19/08/2023 11:34

So there is just 1 exam in drama. I have the script. No missing questions . She answered everything.
Coursework was moderated and confirmed by external as A*
Doe the examiner marking the exam know/see the coursework I wonder
CW is 60% exam is 40%
On the day of the exam the teacher was there and wished her luck and said she just needed to do what she'd been doing all year and she would definitely get an A. I'd understand if the exam was a B or even a C but she's never gotten an E ever in her life .
The head emailed me and said there was no point in getting a recheck as it is a very low E and could be downgraded to a U but would be unlikely to go up to even a D.
DD is broken . I'm trying to get her to look at courses in clearing but she keeps saying she is stupid and shouldn't go to uni that she's been mistaken and she's an E student and uni is not for her. It's such a bitter blow. More so cos she was predicted A or A*. She keeps saying even if they had told
Her she was a C or D she would accept it more

Please insist that the school request a remark. Offer to pay for it as this may be why they are reluctant if they are short of funds. I'm a teacher and have experience with examining and huge mistakes can happen every now and then. Examiners marking is checked but not every paper.

Oblomov23 · 19/08/2023 14:03

Email and ask for a remark. Have you done that yet?

Oblomov23 · 19/08/2023 14:05

I don't mean to be rude, but what on earth are you waiting for? Time is of the essence here. email today and politely ask for any re-mark as a matter of urgency.

Braveheart35 · 19/08/2023 14:09

Ceci03 · 19/08/2023 11:34

So there is just 1 exam in drama. I have the script. No missing questions . She answered everything.
Coursework was moderated and confirmed by external as A*
Doe the examiner marking the exam know/see the coursework I wonder
CW is 60% exam is 40%
On the day of the exam the teacher was there and wished her luck and said she just needed to do what she'd been doing all year and she would definitely get an A. I'd understand if the exam was a B or even a C but she's never gotten an E ever in her life .
The head emailed me and said there was no point in getting a recheck as it is a very low E and could be downgraded to a U but would be unlikely to go up to even a D.
DD is broken . I'm trying to get her to look at courses in clearing but she keeps saying she is stupid and shouldn't go to uni that she's been mistaken and she's an E student and uni is not for her. It's such a bitter blow. More so cos she was predicted A or A*. She keeps saying even if they had told
Her she was a C or D she would accept it more

The examiner will have no idea of her coursework mark.

If you have the script would it not be best to have her teacher look over her answers and see what went wrong? This might give her the closure that I think she needs?

Notellinganyone · 19/08/2023 14:15

Braveheart35 · 19/08/2023 14:09

The examiner will have no idea of her coursework mark.

If you have the script would it not be best to have her teacher look over her answers and see what went wrong? This might give her the closure that I think she needs?

Show quote history

At my school we request the papers- with students permission- and then look closely at them to decide whether we think the marking was fair/accurate. We would then advise although you can go ahead with a review if you choose anyway. The fact that something similar happened in another exam does suggest that either your DD panics in exams or the teaching is not that great.

TinyTeacher · 19/08/2023 14:18

As it's hapenned in two separate subjects, could it be a stress thing?

You've asked for the papers. Don't go in all guns blazing with the school as you'll just trigger everyone to close ranks! Nobody likes to to under attack. Ask if someone is available to help you go through the paper and help you understand what I wrong with a view to resitting when possible.

ThickSkinnedSoWhat · 19/08/2023 14:24

surreygirl1987 · 19/08/2023 13:19

I feel that her teacher needs to explain himself?

Sure, blame the teacher 🙄 Did the whole class do badly?

This. I hope you didn't take that attitude when you approached the school. I'd doubt they'd be rushing to feel helpful if you start blaming their staff with no proof that it was in any way related to them.

Diamonte71 · 19/08/2023 14:42

My DD got A in drama coursework and came out with a C but one mark off a B. Can’t decide whether to go for remark as got grades needed for uni, just feels a bit frustrating. Also how likely is it grades would go down? Can’t find out cost for drama remark of the paper?

nevynevster · 19/08/2023 14:45

Ceci03 · 18/08/2023 22:28

Yeh the school sent the script. Seems like she answered all the questions and that kind of thing . The head of A level is very discouraging of applying for a recheck saying it would only ever go up a couple of marks or could go down . It's just the difference from A to E that u can't get my head around. She's never gotten lower than A for the last 2 years

It can't get much worse ! So ask for a re mark and it may go up a couple. That is absolutely a risk worth taking IMHO

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